The Nonprofit Employment Practices Survey has been the leading source of data on nonprofit employment, talent and culture since 2007 and is trusted by human resources professionals and nonprofit leaders alike. From this year's survey, we learned that nonprofits are continuing to hire more aggressively than for-profits, but the gap is narrowing. Yet nonprofits are not improving their talent and culture practices in order to keep up with the competition and advance their missions.

1. What can you do?
Nonprofit hiring is still outpacing corporate hiring,
but the gap is narrowing.
Anticipated nonprofit changes in staff size by year
2011 2013 2015 2017
37% 38%
34%
20%
17%
15%
44%
51%
No Change in Staff Size
Increase Staff Size
Decrease Staff Size
46%
* Careerbuilder 2016 and 2017 U.S. Jobs Forecasts
Nonprofits have been hiring more aggressively than for-profits for the last several years, and will continue to do so in 2017. However, the gap is narrowing, and
nonprofits are facing increased competition for talent from the corporate sector, driven in part by the growth of social enterprise and purpose-driven business.
The number of nonprofits that anticipate hiring shrunk by 7 percentage points between 2016 and 2017, while the 2017 corporate hiring outlook is the best the
U.S. has seen in a decade. The number of for-profits that anticipate hiring grew by 4 percentage points between 2016 and 2017.*
Yet most nonprofits are not improving their talent and culture practices
in order to keep up with increased competition and advance their missions.
Without talent acquisition, retention and DEI strategies in place,
nonprofits continue to struggle with familiar challenges.
If you hope to continue to advance your nonprofit’s mission in the face of
growing competition from the for-profit sector, changes in government
support, shifts in funding and other challenges, it’s time to take action.
Consider these steps.
Develop talent acquisition, retention and DEI strategies.
Alignyour talent strategieswithyour organization’s strategic plan.
Advocate for an increased investment in talent.
Hiring qualified staff within limited budget constraints continues to be the
top talent management challenge for nonprofits for the sixth year in a row. This challenge,
along others that ranked in the top five, can all be addressed through the development
and execution of recruitment, retention, DEI and other talent management strategies.
Hiring qualified staff within limited budget constraints
Maintaining salary budgets against market pressures
Finding qualified staff
Retaining support/entry level staff
Finding time to recruit and interview in conjunction with other duties
Other responses (individually all below 6%)
No, we have no plans to change how we source for
talent
We are currently considering making changes
Yes, we will be making changes in the new year
I don’t know
No
Yes
I don’t know
64%
33%
3%
No
Yes
81%
19%
I don’t know
No
Yes
37%
36%
Most nonprofits have no talent acquisition strategy and no plans to change the way they recruit talent.
Does your organization have a formal talent
acquisition (recruitment) strategy?
In 2017, will your organization make any significant changes
in the way it sources and recruits for talent?
56%
20%
14%
10%
As corporate hiring improves, itwill be harder for nonprofits to hold on to their top performers, but most
nonprofits have not put a formal retention strategy or program in place, and a majority have no plans to create one
thisyear.
Does your organization have a formal retention
strategy/program?
Do you plan to create a formal retention
strategy/program in 2017?
27%
Many nonprofit leaders feel diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) should be top priorities, yet a majority of
organizations do not have a diversity, equity and inclusion strategy in place at this time.
Does your organization have a diversity, equity
and inclusion strategy/program?
No
Yes
I don’t know
52%
35%
14%
Examples like this one prove that devoting time and resources to strategy can have a meaningful impact on HR and talent metrics.
If your nonprofit hopes to keep up with increasing competition for talent, you must make the appropriate financial resources available to support your people. Less than 1% of
nonprofit funding has historically gone toward supporting nonprofit talent and only 0.03% ($450M) of the sector’s $1.5 trillion annual spending has been allocated to leadership
development. Show your leadership, board and funders these data and discuss what you can do together to begin to drive change.
About Nonprofit HR
Nonprofit HR is the nation’s leading human resources firm that works exclusively with nonprofit organizations. Since 2000, the firm has provided human resources consulting,
executive search and talent acquisition services for organizations supporting advocacy, health and human services, arts and culture, education, the environment, the faith community
and more. Nonprofit HR has offices in Washington D.C. and Chicago.
About The Nonprofit Employment Practices Survey
The 2017 Nonprofit Employment Practices Survey is intended to provide a snapshot of current employment practices and discuss the economic trends and implications of
employment practices in the nonprofit sector. This report, which has been produced annually by Nonprofit HR since 2007, includes responses from 420 nonprofits in the U.S. and
Canada that serve as a representative sample of the makeup of the sector. In this year’s survey, as in years past, researchers collected information on nonprofit staffing, recruitment,
and retention practices. The survey included a mix of multiple choice, rating scale, and short-answer questions to gain context on the current practices of nonprofit organizations and
the employment trends they see in the nonprofit sector.
About The Survey
© Copyright 2017 | Nonprofit HR The Nonprofit Employment Practices Survey is trademarked by Nonprofit HR and
produced with support from:
28%
22%
18%
6%
6%
50%
43%
7%
What is the greatest challengeyour nonprofit faceswhen it comes to talent?
20%
2
1
3
2016 2017
nonprofits planning to hire
for-profits planning to hire*
57% 50%36% 40%
2017
Nonprofit Employment
Practices Survey
www.nonprofithr.com
Organizations planning to hire in upcoming year
Organizations that develop talent strategies with their big picture goals and strategic plan in mind generally report better performance and are better equipped to advance their
missions.
nonprofit funding that goes toward supporting talent
nonprofit funding that goes toward other areas
$1 Trillion $1.5 Trillion $2 Trillion $2.5 Trillion
Annual Spending in the Nonprofit Sector
nonprofit spending allocated to leadership
nonprofit spending allocated elsewhere
development
*** Stanford Social Innovation Review, Monisha Kapila
**** Fund the People, Rusty Stahl
Talent Investment in the Nonprofit Sector
>99%
<1%
$1.5T
$450M
44% of organizations that have a retention strategy report expecting decreased turnover, while only
25%of organizations that do NOT have a retention strategy expect decreased turnover.
Talent Strategy
Strategic Plan
**
** Nonprofit HR 2017 Talent Management Priorities Survey
*** ****